April 2012, Movies #72-106

106. The Dictator (2012)
 

Rating: 7/10

Review: I got to catch an advanced screening of this movie a few days ago and I went in expecting the worse because the trailers promoting the movie have been pretty terrible.  But I'm glad to report that I found the movie really funny, it's so un-pc though that it's probably going to slammed in the reviews because it will make people really uncomfortable but definitely worth the watch.

105. Tekkonkinkreet (2006)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Amazing animation, but honestly the plot left me a little cold.  One of the few times that I thought an animated movie was too long.  I really like the vast majority of the ideas though that the movie encapsulates.

104. Blue Collar (1978)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Paul Schrader's directorial debut is a low key working man's heist movie.  It's was refreshing to see Richard Pryor in a dramatic role and Yahet Kotto a year before he shot Alien.  Movie drags a bit but overall movie has good chore character development.

103. Black Death (2010)

Rating: 7/10

Review:  Good but brutal movie that goes great with watching the current season of Game of Thrones.  There was a little more torture and dismemberment in this than I was expecting.

102. Holy Rollers (2010)

Rating: 6/10

Review: Average movie that was executed well on the small budget they must have had for this movie.

101. Sound of Noise (2010)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Clever heist movie that has a wacky cadre of characters that comes off as more serious than the movie's tone because everyone is German.  Charming movie that I could see Hollywood doing a remake of, but the original is just fine for me.

100. Centurion (2010)

Rating: 6/10

Review: Held my interest because I've been watching anything with Michael Fassbender in it.  But while watching this all I really wanted to do was put the HBO series Rome on again.

99. Tiptoes (2003)

Rating: 5/10

Review: Came across this because of a recent Peter Dinklage interview about it and one of my favorite podcast "How Did This Get Made?" also chose to feature this movie on it's most recent podcast.  Um so yea, it's exactly as awful as you would expect a movie that features Matthew McConaughey with a little person brother played by Gary Oldman.  So many things wrong with this movie it's hard to get into, it really does feel like it was made a good a decade earlier than the release date of 2003.  Only worth watching if you revel in watching terrible movies.

98. Spriggan (2001)

Rating: 5/10

Review: Had been told this was a good ultra violent anime, but it just bored me to tears.

97. Haywire (2011)

Rating: 8/10

Review: I'm a sucker for anything Soderbergh directs and he has been on a hot streak, so I'm biased but I really enjoyed the subtlety of the movie.

96. Crude: The Real Price of Oil (2009)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Engaging doc about the environmental effects felt by the people that actually live around the oil refineries after they have become long dormant.

95. The Breakfast Club (1985)

Rating: 5/10

Review: I hated every character is this movie, I guess this was a product of the times and really has to put into context but really I couldn't be bothered.  Love the portrayal of weed making one of the characters a raging maniac that shatters a glass door by screaming, yet another film that portrays an acid trip when characters smoke.

94. Being Elmo (2011)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Engaging behind the scenes documentary showing the growth of the Elmo character through the years and Kevin Clash's personal story and interactions with Jim Henson.  After watching this I'm primed for someone to try a feature length doc on Henson himself.

93. The War Room (1993)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Having seen clips of this on TV over the years I had always wanted to watch this in one unbroken stretch and I'm really glad I did because this is just as good any other Pennebaker documentary I've seen.  Doc focuses on the nuts and bolts of a campaign and how to run it instead of a portrait of the candidate which would have been the more traditional way of doing this documentary.

92. Shame (2011)

Rating: 8/10

Review: Watching this back to back with Hunger really allowed me to take in perceived style of director Steven McQueen.  I really enjoy his lengthy takes that aren't gimmicky like other new directors would make of it, each scene that runs with an extended take really adds to the characters development.

91. Hunger (2008)

Rating: 8/10

Review: The middle of the film features a 30 minute scene of dialogue that is brilliant because of the extremely long take it really allows the actors to breathe life into the scene, it was the high point of the film and was worth getting through this brutally difficult watch for that scene.

90. The Courier (2012)

Rating: 5/10

Review: The only reason why i gave this movie a chance is because the director did the amazing Paradise Now, but its seems like he completely sold out just to get an english language movie made because I don't think he brothered reading the script.  Total waste of time.

89. The Secret of Arrietty (2010)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Anime take on the Borrowers story.  I never liked the live action film that came out in the 90's and this is finally a properly done take on the story.

88. The Illusionist (2010)

Rating: 8/10

Review: Extremely well animated film with a minimal amount of dialogue, but that doesn't mean there is a lack of story at all but its told through physical actions rather than dialogue.  Can't recommend it enough but definitely watch the Blu-Ray if you get a chance because the animation really comes alive with the extra resolution.

87. Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

Rating: 6/10

Review: I had been sold that this was a great kung fu mystery movie, but even with the additional of the different fighting styles this movie didn't really hold my interest at all.

86. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Rating: 6/10

Review: This was the only Miyazaki film that i hadn't seen yet and I guess I had too high a bar set for this movie because nothing happens for the first 3/4ths of the movie and then it wraps up nicely, but its slow going until the ending that i probably would have turned it off if not for the Miyazaki connection.

85. Starship Troopers (1988)

Rating: 7/10

Review: This anime adaptation is something I had been looking for since reading the book as a teen, while the plot is very slow, it's the most faithful adaption of the novel that has been done so far.  The only gripe I have is that the aliens are not designed well at all, that's the only thing that the live action film does better.

84. Spirit: Stallion of The Cimmarron (2002)
 

Rating: 6/10

Review:  This movie would easily get two more points on my rating scale if this didn't include the soul grating singing of Bryan Adams, it really makes the movie feel a good decade older than it is. Animation is well done for the time period featuring a combination of CG and traditional cell animation that doesn't clash thankfully.

83. Pocket Money (1972)

Rating: 5/10

Review: This movie never lives up to the pairing of these two cinema icons, what a wasted effort.

82. 9 (2009)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Well written post apocalyptic tale told from the point of view of reconstituted sock puppets about how machines took over the world.  Great voice cast assembled for this one.

81. The Secret of Kells (2009)
 

Rating: 8/10

Review: Amazingly well done animation really pops off the screen and the story is engaging enough to help rather than hinder the animation style.

80. Turn Me On, Dammit (2011)

Rating: 7.5/10

Review: The first honest portrayal of teenage female sexuality that I've seen recently, I don't think this could be made in the same frank way in America without it getting vilified as pornography by the intellectual elites that decide societal discourse in the media.

79. Forbidden Games (1952)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Moving portait of a misplaced child during wartime that really gets the punches across in it's 80 minute run time.

78. The Darkest Hour (2011)

Rating: 5/10

Review: I put this on because I wanted to see Joel Kinnaman (cast as Robocop in the new reboot) in a feature because I've enjoyed his work in AMC's The Killing, but he doesn't really have much of a presence in this movie.  Moscow certainly looks great though.

77. Lone Star (1996)

Rating: 8/10

Review: Catching up on John Sayles' backlog of movies.  This is easily the best feature of Sayles that I've seen so far, the transitions from past to present are so well done and all are practical effects that it really helps the movie flow extremely well and this is clearly Sayles showing how much command of narrative he had achieved at this point in his career.  As I watch more of Sayles backlog I may change my mind but this is his best film that I've seen so far.

76.  Young Adult (2011)

Rating: 5/10

Review: I hated Charlize Theron's character so much in this movie that I didn't care about the second half of the film.

75. Brother From Another Planet (1984)

Rating: 6/10

Review: Catching up on John Sayles' backlog of movies.  This features quite a few of the stable of actors that Sayles used throughout his career including David Strathairn and Joe Morton.  This is more of a nice addition to his stable of films rather than a main focus.

74. Eight Men Out (1988)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Catching up on John Sayles' backlog of movies.  Well done depiction of the throwing of the 1919 World Series, in the movie there is particular note given about how little the players are getting payed allowing for insurgence of corruption.  And then the players who did decide to throw the game got stiffed on the payday also.  Best period baseball movie I've seen in awhile.

73. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)

Rating: 7/10

Review: Brad Bird makes his live action feature debut here to great effect, the sandstorm sequence and the other scenes in Dubai are extremely well crafted.  I didn't really feel like a forth go around for this franchise was needed but to my surprise there was still some fun to be had.

72. Wizards (1977)

Rating: 5/10

Review: The graphic novel this is adapted from has an iconic cover that i came to know well growing up going to comic book coventions through my childhood.  But time has not been kind to film, the animation leaves alot to be desired and the way the plot of the graphic novel is diffused for this really doesn't hold my interest.  There's way too much footage of walking armies that has been rotoscoped into the movie, it felt like I was watching a series of loops.

March 2012, Movies #51-71

71. Night Moves (1976)

Rating: 6/10
Review: I didn't really feel like Hackman was completely there for this role, this is a mildly interesting thriller with a barely of age Melanie Griffith and James Woods on display.

70. Purple Rain (1984)

Rating: 5/10
Review: I was already a fan of the album before watching this, and I don't think I really was missing anything by not seeing the movie except that it introduced Apollonia and her amazing outfits to my personal fantasy world.

69. I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (2009)

Rating: 8/10
Review: This doc starts with the amazing factoid that all 5 movies that John Cazale starred in all were nominated for Best Picture. This is an amazing watch that is all too short at an hour long but they interview pretty much everyone that Cazale appeared on screen and stage with and they all speak glowingly about him. Included quite a bit of his back story and life off the screen that I wasn't aware of before. Highly Recommended

68. A Cat in Paris (2010)

A Cat in Paris Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: This movie is a great triumph of traditional non-cg animation, the shading/lighting techniques used here really makes every shot come alive with a warmth that few cg generated animated films have ever reached.

67. The Broken Tower (2011)

Rating: 5/10
Review: This covers a lot of similar territory that Howl covered minus the plot structure around a court case. I am a fan of James Franco but this was hard to sit through even for me, the best way to compare the two movies is that Howl is the movie a filmmaker would produce, but this movie is what a poet would produce in that its almost unwatchable. I was interested in seeing what part Michael Shannon would play when i looked at the credits, but he really only has cameo in that he has a few lines of dialogue and is only in a couple scenes, aka a waste of his talent.

66. The Grey (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: This is the first good movie that Carnahan has directed since Narc in 2002, and I'm happy to welcome him back from this drizzling fecal matter that were Smoking Aces and The A-Team. I really like polar survival stories and this no expection. While doing some research for the review I found out that I missed a scene after the end credits, so don't forget that if you happen to pick this one up. I did notice the casting director must have love the cancelled AMC show Rubicon which two of its cast members on the plane with Neeson.

65. Detachment (2011)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Where as Dangerous Minds is filled with Hollywood BS, this is a more realistic portrayel or teaching for a class I would have to assume. This movie is pretty bleak to say the least, but the cast for this is incredible. Tony Kaye must be well liked to get all these great character actors together for this small movie but its good to see Kaye starting to get back to slightly bigger films after the experience he had on American History X.

64. Metropia (2009)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Amazing photo realistic cg amalgamation, my only complaint is that this world is so grey sometimes that you lose some of the attention to detail they put into the atmospheric backgrounds. Vincent Gallo doesn't detract from the movie, and Alexander Skarsgard (Eric from True Blood) has a really good part in this also.

63. Westworld (1973)


Rating: 6/10
Review: This is basically the trail run for what Jurassic Park would be, the phrase "spared no expense" even pops up in this movie also. I kept thinking of the Simpons episode that parodies both movies at once while watching this. Also i was struck by how much young James Brolin looks like Christian Bale and with after a little google searching apparently I wasn't the first to think of this.

62. The Hunger Games (2012)

Rating: 5/10
Review: Now normally I wouldn't have touched this movie with a 10 foot pole but since Jennifer Lawrence is in it, and since my girlfriend is a rapid fan of the books I was pretty much fated to see this movie eventually. The whole time I was thinking about how I wanted to pick up that new Blu-Ray of Battle Royale that was just released, I'm sure thats why they the blu-ray release was timed so close to this movie's theatrical release.

61. The Comic (1969)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie covers some of the same themes that The Artist touches on, but in a much less interesting way. Even though I love the director Carl Reiner this was tough to get through.

60. Superman Batman Apocalypse (2010)

Rating: 3/10
Review: What a bait and switch, this should actually be titled the Supergirl and Wonder Woman movie because they are the main characters, and I have never been interested in either of them and this movie didn't change my viewpoint.

59. Batman Under The Red Hood (2010)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Can only really recommend this to hardcore Batmanites. I'm instantly skeptical of any animated Batman feature that doesn't feature Kevin Conroy, but since I know he is retiring soon from the role I'll have to get used to other people voicing him. Bruce Greenwood does a commendable job voicing the Batman role. I didn't like some of the character designs though, the Joker being the biggest eyesore, and The Black Mask character was a one of the few Batman villians that I wasn't familiar with before this movie, and his character is really just gangster caricature with no time is given to developing him beyond yelling at his underlings.

58. Game Change (2012)

Rating: 8/10
Review: If this movie had been release theatrically we would be talking about Julianne Moore getting Oscar buzz, but since it aired on HBO we'll only get Golden Globe mentions. I was completely surprised with how captivating this movie was and after watching it I felt it was sympathetic to Palin because Moore brings so much life to the role. The biggest draw back to this movie coming out is that it gives Palin relevancy again for people to put a microphone in her face, but hopefully this renewed interest in her will wain again....quickly. Highly Recommended

57. Across The Universe (2007)

Rating: 5/10
Review: I like the Beatles a lot, but I didn't really jive with this recreation of the songs. Works as music video but little else.

56. A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Good Woody Flick, and Gordon Willis shot it. You either love or hate Woody so I'm not really going to convert anyone by writing a longer review.

55. Freaknik: The Musical (2010)

Rating: 5/10
Review: Even though I can't stand T-Pain this was terrible, I guess I had unrealistic expectations because Cee-lo is in this and I had hoped it would reach the heights of the musical American Dad Hot Tub of Love episode, but alas it comes nowhere close and while watching this i just wanted to put that episode on again.

54. Rider on the Rain (1970)

Rating: 8/10
Review: Jim Morrison was inspired by this movie to write Riders on the Storm after seeing it, lyrics in that song make so much more sense now after seeing this movie because they refer to characters in the movie or different parts of the plot. The movie on its own is really interesting also.

53. The Sitter (2011)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This poster catches my attention more than the movie did. I like Jonah Hill but his character wasn't that interesting in the movie and I felt it was a little dull because of it. Sam Rockwell's drug lord character deserves it's own spin off movie. On a "David Gordon Green recent films scale", this movie was better than Your Highness but nowhere near Pineapple Express.

52. Electra Glide in Blue (1973)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Before Robert Blake was a real life maniac he actually had a few good movies under his belt, this ethereal motorcycle cop movie is highly watchable and falls in line with many of the great anti-hero movies of the 70's that have endings that take a hard right.

51. Bye Bye Birdy (1963)

Rating: 6/10
Review: Getting ready for the season 5 of Mad Men to premiere I've been re-watching the earlier seasons and due to this movie being referenced through a multi-episode story arc in season 3, I decided to check it out. Not the worst but not the best musical I've seen, I've been told that this Hollywood version really mangled the original musical with inclusion for more Ann Margaret.

Feburary 2012, Movies #46-50

50. The Five Year Engagement (2012)

Rating: 8/10
Review: Caught an advanced screening of this movie and really enjoyed it to bits. This movie strikes the perfect tone between all out comedy and complete melodrama, never getting too saccharine for it's own good. This is one of the few romantic comedies that actually portrays a realistic relationship which is so rarely the case in movies made in the studio system. Highly recommended.

49. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Good revenge western that has been referenced in tons of movies. Kansas Jayhawkers are briefly mentioned as genocidal maniacs.

48. The Prince and The Showgirl (1957)

Rating: 4/10
Review: This is the movie they are shooting in "My Week with Marilyn" and that is the only reason why I put this on, while it's nice to see the sets and a few scenes that were depicted in the contemporary film this movie is dreadfully boring and wouldn't have been of note at all otherwise.

47. Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Enjoyable animated superheros save the Earth movie, but I didn't enjoy how much of the Green Lantern origin story was crammed into this.

46. Genius Party Beyond (2008)

Toujin Kit segment from Genius Party Beyond:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. I really enjoyed most of the segments with Toujin Kit being my favorite that I posted above.

Feburary 2012, Movies #36-45

45. The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai (1984)

Rating: 6/10
Review: While I know my dad loves this movie for a zany 80's space camp time, but personally I prefer The Ice Pirates to this movie but this one is fun also.

44. Puss In Boots (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: I was really surprised that I ended up liking this quite a bit, even though there is a little too much dancing, this isn't the crass annoying ride that I was expecting from a movie spun off the Shrek world. Zach Galifianakis practically has the lead role in this.

43. My Week With Marilyn (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: Michelle Williams really saves this movie with her performance, otherwise this is an average backstage drama with a great cast. Blink and you'll miss Emma Watson, I'm not saying her part should have been bigger but they should have cast a less known actress in the role because it's really distracting to see her used so sparingly.

42. Genius Party (2007)

Review: Anime short story compilation film. This was a lot of fun but the last segment was directed by the creator of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, but its about two school kids realtionship together (aka not an action story) and isn't really what I wanted when hearing that his name was attached to do a short film.

41. Battle Angel (1993)

Rating:5/10
Review: The only reason I watched this was because for years this was the next project James Cameron was developing a live action adaptation film of, but Avatar moved to the front of his attention and the rest is history. Still hard to imagine what Cameron would do with this but would love to see it, can't really recommend this anime but I've heard the manga that it was adapted from told the story better.

40. Fire and Ice (1983)

Trailer:

Rating:6/10
Review: Rotoscoped animation is something not really seen at all anymore because of the advent of motion capture but it does produce a unique image at the very least, but there isn't much to the plot of this fantasy piece so the animation takes center stage and kind of suffers because of it. The frame rate on the rotoscoping animation is probably 10/15 frames a second which doesn't make for the most visually pleasing watch. Fun to be aware of this movie existing but probably nothing I'll revisit anytime soon.

39. Dead Leaves (2004)

Dead Leaves Trailer:

Rating:7/10
Review: Even though this movie has a hyper-kinetic pace, it has a nice amnesia plot that unravels nicely. Animation goes by at a mile a minute.

38. 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007)

Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: While the story of two teenager lovers separated by long distances resulting in lots of train riding through out isn't a typical anime story that I would care about, but the animation techniques used explode the images off the screen.

37. Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)

Rating: 8/10
Review: This doesn't really have anything to do with the first movie other than the setting of Rio and the story of corruption in the Rio police forces so it's not necessary that you have seen the first movie. Really tough cop movie that easily out classes any American cop film since The Departed.

36. The Perfect Weapon (1991)

Trailer:

Rating: 5/10
Review: This movie is a camp classic. The foley work on this movie also is insane, the punch repetition by the main character sounds like he's shooting a machine gun. A good time will be had if you need a good dose of 90's action movie camp.

Feburary 2012, Movies #25-35

35. Tokyo Drifter (1966)

Trailer:

Rating:5/10
Review: I know this movie is consider a classic for it's style, but honestly I almost nodded off watching it and that's something I never do. Maybe this will need a revisit from me in a few years.

34. Gandahar (1987)

Trailer:

Rating:8/10
Review: Just as amazing as Rene Laloux's previous two efforts. Must see for all animation aficionados. Highly Recommended

33. Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)

Rating:4/10
Review: Poorly done rehash of one of the segments from the original Heavy Metal, don't waste your time with this sequel and just watch the original.

32. In Time (2011)

Rating:7/10
Review: I enjoyed how well executed the premise was even if a little goofy but ultimately a lot of fun. Timberlake is definitely not the problem with the movie, the problem is that this story is lifted directly from an Ellison short story and no credit was given but plagiarism claims have dogged Andrew Niccol since The Truman Show. There really is a mega-flop type stink that this movie has a reputation for already but it's definitely not that.

31. Underworld Awakening (2012)

Rating:5/10
Review: Um, it was less than 90 minutes and has Kate Beckinsale in leather...those are about the only positive things I can really say about it.

30. Rio (2011)

Rating:6/10
Review: While this wasn't a bad movie, nothing was really special about it either. A few days after watching I had almost forgotten I had seen this which means nothing stuck with me.

29. Time Masters (1984)

Time Masters Trailer:

Rating: 8/10
Review: I love Rene Laloux. His previous movie Fantastic Planet is something that must be seen to be believed. Here Laloux returns with a slightly more evolved animation style and the movie is a little easier to follow than Fantastic Planet and I enjoyed it just as much. All Laloux is a must see. Highly Recommended


28. Memories (1995)

Memories Trailer:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. My favorite shorts are a tie between Stink Bomb and Magnetic Rose.

27. Neo Tokyo (1989)

"The Running Man" segment from Neo Tokyo:

Rating: 7/10
Review: Anime short story compilation film. My favorite short is one that I had been introduced to through Liqiud Television on early 90's MTV, its called The Running Man about a futuristic racing league. I found it on youtube and posted it above.

26. Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Rating: 6/10
Review: This movie has aged horribly, and has an unintended camp factor to it in that some of the acting is over the top also. It didn't help that during this stage in the late 80's early 90's that every movie seems to have been shot as flat as possible also so its visually uninteresting also. Uma in her early prime on display here.


25. The Rum Diary (2011)

Rating: 7/10
Review: While this can't really compare to Fear and Loathing as a movie, I think that probably lies with the source material being less interesting than Fear and Loathing. Still I found this movie enjoyable and it's good to see Johnny still do a passion project like this between blockbusters.